Relay Peak is a 10,338-foot-elevation mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located in Washoe County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, United States.

Description

Relay Peak is set five miles north of

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...

in the

Mount Rose Wilderness The Mt. Rose Wilderness is a protected wilderness area in the Carson Range of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County, in the northwesternU.S. state of Nevada. It is located between Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada. The Mt. Rose Wilderness, including ...

, on land managed by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. It is part of the

Carson Range The Carson Range is a spur of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada that starts at Carson Pass and stretches north to the Truckee River near Verdi, Nevada. Geography The mountain range is about 50 miles (80 km) long and ...

which is a subset of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

. It is situated southwest of Mount Rose and north of

Incline Village Incline Village is a census-designated place (CDP) on the north shore of Lake Tahoe in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 8,777 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Reno− Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Until the 2 ...

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

is modest as the summit rises above Ginny Lake in one mile, and above Incline Lake in two miles. The

Tahoe Rim Trail The Tahoe Rim Trail is a 170-mile (274 km) long-distance hiking trail that forms a loop around the Lake Tahoe Basin in the Sierra Nevada and ranges of Nevada and California in the United States.Hauserman, Tim ''The Tahoe Rim Trail'' The trail ...

traverses the summit of the peak, providing an approach option, and the summit represents the highest point anywhere along the entire 170 mile trail. This landform's toponym was officially adopted in 1990 by the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Relay Peak is located in an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of ...

zone. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For in ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range. Relay Peak (10,285 ft)

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Relay Peak
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Relay Peak , North =

Mount Houghton Mount Houghton is a 10,490-foot-elevation mountain summit located in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. Description Mount Houghton is set seven miles north of Lake Tahoe in the Mount Rose Wilderness, on land managed by the Humboldt-Toiyabe ...

, Northeast = Mount Rose , East = Tamarack Peak , Southeast = Tahoe Meadows , South =

, Southwest = Rose Knob Peak , West =

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, Northwest = Gray Creek Mountains of Washoe County, Nevada Mountains of Nevada Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest North American 3000 m summits Mountains of the Sierra Nevada (United States)

Description

Climate

See also

References

External links